Marked for Willian Pacho
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 Aug 2029
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 27 matches without defeat is a foundation Paris Saint-Germain did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Vitinha shuts the door
Defensive actions: 36, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Marquinhos in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paris Saint-Germain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market27 Aug 2029
Adam Ayari hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Paris Saint-Germain can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Marked 9.63 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Marked 9.61 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad27 Aug 2029
The manager makes an example of Désiré Doué
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match25 Aug 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kang-In Lee. 2‑0 against OGC Nice, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad2 Apr 2029
A season average of 7.96 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad2 Apr 2029
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Marquinhos in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paris Saint-Germain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market2 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paris Saint-Germain is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Marquinhos gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
Marked 9.52 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
A performance of 9.46 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
Marked 8.88 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match3 Mar 2029
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 16 matches without defeat is a foundation Paris Saint-Germain did not have in the autumn.
Match27 Feb 2029
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A season average of 7.88 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad5 Mar 2029
430 appearances across 15 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Paris Saint-Germain know what they have.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market5 Mar 2029
Ousmane Dembélé wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Paris Saint-Germain hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Marquinhos in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paris Saint-Germain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market5 Mar 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Paris Saint-Germain they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match25 Dec 2028
Position 1 and 49 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Ruben Kluivert: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Paris Saint-Germain have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Marquinhos in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paris Saint-Germain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market25 Dec 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Quentin Ndjantou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Paris Saint-Germain the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Dec 2028
5 goals and a season average of 7.65. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match23 Dec 2028
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
The one thing Désiré Doué could not do
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad4 Dec 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match2 Dec 2028
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market4 Dec 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paris Saint-Germain is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market4 Dec 2028
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Paris Saint-Germain heard it as anything else.
Squad4 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paris Saint-Germain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Ousmane Dembélé
8 goals and a season average of 7.59 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
A performance of 9.38 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match2 Dec 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marquinhos. 3‑1 against RC Lens, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Marked 9.09 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad18 Sep 2028
Ousmane Dembélé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Marked 9.52 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match16 Sep 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Victor Osimhen. 3‑2 against FC Lorient, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
One of those days for Marquinhos
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.38, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match17 Sep 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kang-In Lee. 3‑1 against Liverpool, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
A performance of 9.25 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Marked 8.46 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad18 Sep 2028
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Willian Pacho will call it something else in private.
Squad18 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mamadou Meité and Paris Saint-Germain agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Jul 2028
The offer from FC Nantes for Lucas Hernández was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Ousmane Dembélé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market31 Jul 2028
The name of Renato Sanches has come up in conversations Paris Saint-Germain were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market31 Jul 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Paris Saint-Germain will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market31 Jul 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Lucas Hernández may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Ilian Mhand knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paris Saint-Germain, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jun 2028
FC Nantes come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Paris Saint-Germain did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Ousmane Dembélé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market19 Jun 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Paris Saint-Germain will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad19 Jun 2028
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Paris Saint-Germain that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.